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THE CATS OF GOKOGU SHRINE

GOKOGU NO NEKO

By Kazuhiro SODA

ASIAN SHADOWS - CHINESE SHADOWS - as SALES All rights, World

Documentary - Completed 2024

The ancient small Gokogu Shrine is the observatory of the complex relationship between people and nature. A chronicle of the inconvenient truth on how even nature doesn’t fit our civilised life.

- Year of production
- 2024
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- JAPAN, USA
- Languages
- JAPANESE
- Duration
- 119 mn
- Director(s)
- Kazuhiro SODA
- Producer(s)
- Kazuhiro SODA (Laboratory X, Inc.), Kiyoko KASHIWAGI (Laboratory X, Inc.)
- Synopsis
- Gokogu is a small, ancient Shinto shrine in Ushimado, Japan. Home to dozens of street cats, it is also known as Cat Shrine. Many people visit the shrine for various reasons: some to worship gods, others to enjoy gardening. Some people come to clean the shrine as volunteers while others just stop by on their way to fish Japanese sardinella –– and it is the perfect place for kids to play after school. It is a heaven for cat-loving residents and visitors too. Some people visit Gokogu to feed the freely roaming stray cats. Others just come to see these cats or to take pictures of them. But some residents complain about the waste the cats leave around the neighborhood. Gokogu looks peaceful on the surface, but it is also the epicenter of a sensitive issue that divides the local community. Master Soda started rolling his camera to observe and depict the aging, traditional community and its spiritual center Gokogu.